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Baby Cards with Simple Stories Hello Baby!

You may have noticed we are trying some new things at Scrapbook Update lately. Welcome to one of my favorite new features that I hope you’ll like: the card theme of the month! Throughout the month, you’ll see several articles containing cards built around the same theme. For the feature’s debut month, the theme is baby cards!

The brand new collection “Hello Baby” from Simple Stories is a perfect choice for making cards with. The 6 x 6 paper pad has great small patterns that are nicely scaled for card elements, and the chipboard and stickers offer great options to work with for embellishing.

My first card is a bit “shabby country”. The doily was inspired by one of the collection’s prints that uses a doily in it. The chicken wire stencil detail is an example of why I don’t stick things down right away. I had all of the elements – the doily, the title block, the chipboard word, the butterfly – arranged and was staring at the card. It needed something more, but not too much.

A stencil for some added texture on the wood paper seemed like just the right amount of detail, adding something visually without being too heavy. Using the stencil with some Distress Ink and the Ranger ink blending tool allowed me to fade out the edges of the design to soften it.

My “it’s a boy” card came out looking a bit more girlie than I intended…that may be because after 11 years of making girl stuff for my daughter, I don’t have many “boy” skills! Pink and flowers is my natural language at this point.

By creating a collage of strips for the background, I was able to let the patterned paper do a lot of the heavy lifting in this design. The heart is a Silhouette cut file. The store has loads of hearts to choose from – I chose this particular one because the stitching line around it makes it appear a bit visually lighter than it really is for the physical real estate that it takes up.

I had originally intended the sticker banner to extend off of the side of the heart, but once I got the heart cut to size I noticed how perfectly the banner fit on it. So I went with it, and really like the result. The heart is adhered with foam dots to give it some dimension and separation from the busy background.

This last card is so quick and simple! It uses only a couple of supplies and construction steps, and the Simple Stories embellishments do most of the work on it. Both papers are edged in Antique Linen Distress Ink – the color appears darker on the torn edge of the music paper. Then the sticker border and floral element was added, and the chipboard sentiment. All done!

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About Nancy Nally

Nancy Nally is the owner of Nally Studios LLC., and the Publisher & Editor of ScrapbookUpdate.com and CraftCritique.com.
Nancy also served as the “Modern Business” columnist for Northridge Publishing’s Creative Retailer magazine for several years, before becoming the magazine’s editor from 2013 until its closure in 2014. Her writing has also appeared in CLN Online and CHA's Craft Industry Today.
In addition to writing, Nancy is also an experienced speaker and presenter, having given business seminars at many recent Craft & Hobby Association trade shows. From 2011 until 2012, she was the founding co-host of the Paperclipping Roundtable podcast, and she can also be seen on five episodes from the second and third seasons of the PBS television series Scrapbook Soup.
Nancy also does freelance public relations work and consulting for private companies about the scrapbook industry’s trends and business climate.